Feline Frenzy
2020 — NSDA Campus, WA/US
Speech Paradigm List
All Paradigms: Show Hide- clash, clash, clash
- framework and impacts are important
- please go down the flow and signpost
- I hate the vote neg on presumption arg, please refrain from using it, i will only vote on it if I absolutely have to
I mainly debated policy for four years in highschool. I also did PF at a few tournaments. I went to GDI twice and went to state 3 times.
I am mostly a policy judge but have judged plenty of LD and PF over the years as well.
LD & PF:
Speed is always fine. Make sure that you are respectful to eachother. I have no specific argument preferences. Impact calc is always important. Tell me why your impact matters more/outweighs. Make sure that you cover both your opponents and your own case. Please make sure that if you are making good arguments that you extend them in your following speeches so I can vote on them.
Policy:
Stock issues are voters, T is especially a voter. I thoroughly enjoy K and T debates, and theory is fun.
If there is a theoretical violation, my threshold for voting on it will probably be pretty low. During theory debates, for the love of God, don't spread through every standard in 4 seconds.
I dislike almost all colonialization debates and colonization K's...
Don't run a counter plan unless you can do it right.
Make sure that you are extending arguments and cards.
When in doubt, do impact calc/outweigh work. It's always nice when I have an easy and clear way to vote.
A drop is a concession
I do not flow new arguments in rebuttals (very rare exceptions)
I allow tag team cross ex and flashing doesn't count as prep. I am a flow judge, so responding to arguments and offense is very important
I consider myself a traditionalist. Lincoln-Douglas debate was created for a reason. The intent of debate is to facilitate communication, therefore use of speed should not be the emphasis in this activity. A good litmus test is the following...would Abraham Lincoln have used spread during his debate with Stephen Douglas? No? Then you probably shouldn't either. Exchange of ideas, discussion of which value is superior, respect and civility should be of paramount importance. Analysis and organization is extremely important. The debater in front of me should explain why their analysis is superior and why their value defeats the opposition.
As I noted above, the intent of debate is to facilitate communication. Speakers need to remember, and this is extremely important, that communication is not only about speaking, but it is also about listening. I have seen it happen more times than I can count, that your opponent will give you information to flip against them in the round, and that flip is not utilized. The tough part is identifying that information. Do not be constrained by what is obvious, meaning do not be afraid to ask "what if". Lateral thinking therefore, is incredibly important to consider.
Further, I consider myself a pragmatist. Originally, Lincoln-Douglas debate was designed as a values-oriented platform. This has evolved into a policy-values hybrid so while I will look at a round from a purely values perspective, the values and values criteria have become more of a means/end assertion. The use of real world links and impacts should support your decision. If you are able to demonstrate why your real world analysis/evidence supports your values/values criteria and you set that parameter up front, I will strongly consider that as a voter. I would however note the following:: the links to your impacts are absolutely critical to establish in the round. Off time roadmaps are also important. Organization is absolutely critical. It is your responsibility to tell me where you are on the flow.
Impact calculus is one of the major concepts I will weigh in your round. That is an incredibly huge point to remember where I am concerned as a judge. However, it is important to consider the nature of the impact. This is where the aforementioned links come into play. Of further note, since LD has become a hybrid, I buy off on solvency being an issue as a means to justify the resolution. Those of you who have had me before as a judge know why that statement alone can determine an entire round. In short, back to the point on the "what if" issue I broached earlier, that would be a very good place to start.
I also look at framework. If you are going to run something out of the norm...i.e. counterplan, Rights Malthus, general breakdown of society, etc., you need to make sure your links are airtight, otherwise I will not consider your impact. The two would operate separate of each other if there is no link.
I started my involvement in LD in 1982, I also debated policy from 1980 to 1982, competed in speech from 1980 to 1984, and competed at the college level in the CEDA format in 1985 and from 1988 to 1990, and have been judging since 2014 in the Spokane, WA area. I also judged policy in the Chicago, IL area in the early 1990"s.
In terms of the January/February 2024 LD topic on reducing military presence in the West Asia/North Africa region, I have very unique experience and perspective. I am retired military, retiring in 2014 and having served 4 years active duty in the Navy and 16 years in the Washington Army National Guard including a one year deployment to Iraq from 2005 to 2006 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. I saw first hand the effect of what many of you may try to argue. I also attended many briefings from subject matter experts prior to going in country, including geopolitical/economic briefings, etc. I do consider myself a bit more well versed than many judges in this field based on my personal experience. In short, examine your argumentation and analysis carefully. The bigger picture is a major area of focus and as the semester progresses, you will begin to see adjustments based on the feedback you are getting.
A couple of administrative notes. Eye contact is really important if for no other reason, to see how much time you have left. One of my biggest pet peeves is cutting off your opponent during CX. I have no problem annotating that you did so on your ballot so your coach can discuss the matter with you after the tournament. Civility and decorum are important, and I can surmise several of you have had this happen to you. I also do not have a problem with you timing yourself or sharing evidence, provided it does not detract from the overall use of time in the round.
Finally, it is extremely important to remember....this activity can be fun and it will help you in ways you can't even imagine later down the road. Everyone at this tournament, whether they are coaches, judges, your peers, etc...started as a novice. Bad rounds happen. They are a part of the landscape that is debate. This teaches an important life lesson. How do you bounce back from adversity? How do you apply what you have learned to make things better next time?
Remember that the case/argumentation you start off with at the beginning of the semester, will not be what you end up with at the end, provided you do a self assessment at the end of each round. Ask yourself what was supposed to happen. What did happen? What three things went well for you. What three things happened to you that are opportunities for improvement. If you are consistently applying these criteria, and using your coaches/opponents/peers as resources, by default your weaknesses will get shored up. Incidentally, this is a really good life skill as well and can be applied in the real world. Good luck to you going forward!
if you're lazy or short on time read the bolded parts for a short version of my paradigm. you are so very welcome.
West Campus '19; Gonzaga '23
Debate is very important to me. Please try and have some fun! I've had very bad anxiety that manifests itself physically as trichotillomania. Debate is a challenge to participate in fully because of anxiety. If you need to step out, take a minute, leave after your last speech, or anything else that will make debate accessible for you, I totally understand. Just let me know before round.
That goes for anything that will make the round more accessible for you, please just let me know before the round.
In terms of argument preference, do what you want. I’m good with whatever you want to throw at me (that’s a lie please don’t throw things at me I have very little coordination). Here’s a couple things to know:
T(opicality) – Fairness and education are voters but not if those 5 words are all you say about it. Otherwise do what you want.
Theory – slow down on analytics pls. honestly kind of a theory hack. drops are drops. if they drop theory don't be scared to go for it...Otherwise do what you want.
DAs – The more interesting, creative, fun the better; that doesn’t mean I won’t vote on, listen to, or even enjoy a politics debate. Otherwise do what you want.
CPs – slow down on theory. Advantage cps are sick but I do love my 50 states cp too. Otherwise do what you want.
Ks – I was a very pOliCy dEbaTeR in high school. I think ks are incredibly strategic arguments. I have a high threshold for aff specific links and prefer alts with some form of praxis. I tend to view a majority of the ks read in average high school rounds as non-unique disads, please make me want to take this out of my paradigm !! I want you to know what you’re doing and be able to do it well. I am not well-versed in K lit. I would say that while this is the largest section of my paradigm it’s a section that I believe will continue to evolve. if you want to change my mind about any of my k opinions pls pref me and get the chance to actually use your mindset shift alt :) I’m so down to have all of my opinions changed. Otherwise do what you want.
K affs – I frick with good framework debates. Let's talk about how we frame our work on both sides. I find case debate in K aff rounds super interesting. I think often times k on k debate can make things super messy and leave quite a bit too much up to judge discretion. Enter at your own risk. Otherwise do what you want.
Anything else - Do what you want. Seriously, my paradigm is short and blippy because debate is about you not me. I want to be as blank of a slate as possible and a fair of a judge as possible. This is educational for me too! Change my opinions, be articulate, get your point across, essentially do the bettter debating and you've probably got my vote.
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A couple other things:
-Debate is a game. Duh. But what does that mean? You tell me.
-Please be nice. Be nice to me, be nice to your opponents, be nice to your partner, and coaches be nice to your kids. To quote the legend and my teammate Molly Martin, we are people before we are debaters.
-Tag team is always legit
-Emailing/flashing isn’t prep. If i'm feeling moody or tired this might change. If emailing/flashing is excessive I’ll call you out. Don’t steal prep.
-Ask all the questions you want and I will try to give you as much explanation for my decision. When I'm giving your decision, I have already submitted your ballot and my decision isn't changing no matter how good your post-rounding ability is.
-Debate is a home for so many students and the community is an undeniably amazing and unique thing. That being said, I am shattered whenever I think of all of the young people, especially young girls, who have experienced forms of sexual violence within this space. I have felt first-hand the kind of damage that this space can do. Let's do all we can to change that.
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Put me on the email chain: littlehalbo@gmail.com
There was a time in which I had a four word paradigm, but then things happened and now it comes with a disclaimer:
If you are racist, ableist, homophobic, transphobic, or anything of the sort you will lose my ballot on the spot. That being said - Don't kill each other.
I am a 4 year debater with LD being my primary focus. I am comfortable with any argument you wish to run, but be prepared to defend it. When I look at the round I like to look at the round through the lenses of the value and value criterion and then look at the voters that may be present. Please signpost where you are in the flow, it makes it easier to follow you and if I can’t get it down or get it down in the wrong spot it doesn’t end well for you. I don’t flow crossx but if there is something in there you wish to bring up I will flow it.
im not super big on speed, but I can sorta deal with it. If something is dropped don’t just say oh it’s dropped, impact it and show me the significance of that drop.
I need education impacts to justify going against fiat, I do not believe that neg can go against Fiat without this.
So I guess since this is an online debate now this kinda stuff would probably be more often read (if you are reading this during prep super don't worry unless I'm told to not give paradigms in online debates)
I did LD for four years so I definitely get the format, I definitely get at least the base level debate style of value-value criterion debate, so def don't worry on the point of making sure I'm lost or worrying about me not understanding how to flow those kinds of arguments.
However, I found myself (and still find myself, as it turns out) extremely more into contention level debates and will almost never vote off of value value criterion debate solely unless there is no possible way for the winning framework to go the other way (which to me is extremely difficult to do). Because of this, I find myself increasingly more compelled towards contention level debate and feel that this does better for clash and for overall productiveness of debate in that in general I feel that philosophical value debate gets pretty vague when focused on for more than a small (but important, mind you!) portion of the flow.
At the end of the day what I look at for end of round decisions are solid contention level debate and flowing those contentions through whichever value won the round (and I am totally fine with flowing through the opponents value, if it works better it works better, or if you have just that solid of contention level debate than you might still win even if you hard dropped your own value).
TLDR: Think of me as a PF judge that understands and goes with value and value criterion debate.
I’m pretty open. At the end of the day, I think of debate as a game where we write rules ourselves. I’m open to almost any kind of argumentation as long as you can make it feel logical and consistent. Kritiks are fine with me. I like philosophy and studied it, feel free to go for the deep cuts.
One thing to note, I’m not as good at flowing post-Covid. Help me by sign posting and being organized. I will not punish you for speed, but I do need to be able to understand you.
I value links a lot. Walk me through why point A leads to B leads to impact C. I will not fill in the dots for you and if your opponent calls you out on not doing so and you haven’t, I will side with them. Give me an impact calculus! Tell me why you are winning. Lay down the law!
I will always answer questions but I do not disclose unless instructed to by the tournament leaders.
I have been coaching Debate for two years.
For Lincoln Douglas- I judge off of who upholds their Value and Value criterion the best while also attacking their opponent's case. I appreciate clear sign postings and do not mind spreading if you enunciate well. Self-timing is fine by me.
For Public Forum- I judge off of who upholds their case the best while also attacking their opponent's case. I appreciate clear sign postings and do not mind spreading if you enunciate well. Self-timing is fine by me.
For Congress- I judge based on your speaking, how well you answer questions, and overall confidence. If I can tell you are prepared you are better off.
Things I look for in a debate:
* Intelligible speech no matter the pace.
* Abundance of evidence (with sources/citations).
* Preparedness
* Relevant information according to the topic.
* Specificity
* Listening skills
More to consider: Professionalism, Respect, and Passion.
Debate and me
Epictetus says: "If you undertake some role beyond your capacity, you both disgrace yourself by taking it and also thereby neglect the role that you were unable to take."
Well, that ship has sailed, and I will be judging you. Here is my email: sposito@umich.edu
More seriously: I would prefer to judge debates squarely in the mainstream, where we all have more or less shared presuppositions about how things work, and a shared way of talking about those presuppositions. I think trying to extrapolate our reasoning outside of the bounds from which it must have come can lead to superficially compelling but ultimately shallow and in fact ridiculous chains of reasoning (here I think there's a horseshoe convergence between K stuff and long-termism and many "procedurals"). Hundreds of debates into my judging career I think I have discovered, almost comically belatedly, what people liked in straight-up policy debate, a format in which in which I almost never competed (I concerned myself mostly with tricks and sophistry, which despite this paragraph remain sorely underrated) and consequently didn't really appreciate. I guess I will still vote on intrinsicness, or dropped condo in a 1 off K debate, and in fact nothing about my belief in the importance of content-neutral evaluation of argument has changed (maybe I look at cards more and am more willing to say an argument wasn't made completely in the first place, but even for the latter I feel like I have a more permissive standard than many) but somehow the thing in me that instinctively and mischievously resonated with "villainy, and things generally hated" has been weakened, and now competes with the opposite instinct....
T
Plan text in a vacuum is both intuitive and desirable upon reflection. That said, T doesn't really bother me and offense-defense is how I think about it, but that includes me thinking that the aff starts with some offense because of the risk of substance crowdout. I don't know what's topical or not and so I advise trying to trick me (and guarding against the other side's tricks). I am a sort of credulous and unassuming person, and very sincere.
But: for philosophical reasons I won't bother with here but would be happy to talk about, I think that in ordinary, practical reasoning, there is a "best" way to read a statement in context, and I care immensely about that "best" reading for the resolution. So I care about "precision" and would prefer to keep any normative ("debatability") considerations at a distance unless the result is a total pragmatic disaster. In fact what I would prefer teams advocate might be that a relatively high "precision" standard needs to be met, as a gateway issue, before I even begin to evaluate the normative content.
Competing interpretations
Any time a reference is made to the round at hand in a debate that is properly about one interpretation or the other, I basically ignore it. Even more than offense-defense, this way of thinking is ground deep into me....
Counterplans
Limitless conditionality is not so bad, neither is process. "Functional only" is probably best but it's a debate. Judgekick is fine and the default. Theory is sometimes necessary because competition can't exclude everything (or shouldn't be made to), but the counterplans for which this is true are already broadly disreputable and thus not likely to be read in the first place.
Sufficiency framing feels like a logical consequence of offense-defense, and so I don't really know what could unconvince me of it....
I think that there are meaningful distinctions to be made between process counterplans and others (for theory, e.g. the butterfly effect resulting in the plan is not the same as something which was clearly intended, as obvious from its construction, to result in the plan resulting in the plan. Some consequences are more "natural" than others), and in fact the pushy dialectic that proceeds by uncooperatively nitpicking any kind of proposed definition by running to edge-cases I regard as literally the height of epistemic folly, antithetical to both thought and language. That said, that isn't enough for me to be good for theory overall, because I think the neg needs generics and think that process are the least bad ones, and in fact have some benefits to debating them. But it does make me less sympathetic to that style of reply to theory--I would prefer to simply conclude that they are basically fair and perhaps educational, not that I am so skeptical of what the aff is getting at that I can't help but conclude that it's OK despite my misgivings....
Text vagueness
For both plans and counterplans, this seems under-theorized. Is it really all just "normal means"? It doesn't bother me morally when texts are vague, not to say that there's no strategic cost.
DAs
I don't mind riders or links to fiat, really, but you need to answer the objections as usual. Politics is fine. I don't understand "link controls the direction of uniqueness" or the reverse.
Elections is very, very good right now and the link turns that I've seen are usually not so good, with I guess some exceptions. Honestly my personal judgment is that it's more likely that Trump is good (for Russia, for NATO, for some innovation thing) than that a carbon tax gains more votes than it costs. It seems like wishful thinking, or like I'm living in some alternate reality powered by Pod Save America agitprop. Obviously the aff has to say something (and there are things they can say) but I feel like even across decent skill disparities the neg is favored on link versus link turn....
The K
I am probably no longer workable for the K... I don't know why I am not automatically, jurisdictionally neg unless the aff can provide a textual counter-interp for every word and phrase in the resolution. Somehow after all this time I have been returned to the most naive, novice-level confusion about why the aff is allowed to be about something that isn't even plausibly near the topic. A similar thing on the neg, though less devastating: What is the answer to the perm double bind if the neg doesn't win framework? But if the neg is going for framework, what arguments do they seriously, sustainably have if the aff survives the 1AR extending boilerplate arguments about fairness?
Generics
Whether or not an argument is reusable between topics is logically unrelated to if it refutes the plan... I don't have any distaste or annoyance at generics. In fact the sentiment, if it's anything, is positive, like that toward old friends. And sunsets.
Risk
"Any risk" logic breaks down somewhere, for reasons of Pascal's mugging or the St. Petersburg paradox or others. Whether or not that logic is apt for risks of the size we discuss in debate rounds is an open question. "Tags start at 100%" seems like a bad norm, but it is our bad norm.
The will to win
I don't think it's advisable to send analytics....
In general, I admire confidence and feel sympathy for (not to say "I like") the fact that the will to win can sometimes result in unfriendliness.
I won't be offended if you think it's in your best interest to do unusual things with cross-ex, speaker positions, paper, et cetera.
Newnesss
The 2NC gets wholly new arguments. Neither the 1NR nor 1AR do without justification, although justifications are easy to make or come by.
Weird moves in the 2AR will be ignored: I don't want to adjudicate an edge case.
Something is new if I couldn't understand it from the earlier speech--I feel like that's intuitive, no?
Echoing
If, during your speech, your partner says a few words, you don't need to repeat them. Please don't push the line and ruin it for everyone.
LD
I know speech times are broken, and so I will be a little more forgiving of aff theory arguments, but my background is still policy and my attitude still laissez fare. That said, I love philosophy and think its reasonable deployment could be interesting--but I don't judge or coach LD and in consequence don't know what you all are saying or how credible I would find it.
I've been an assistant coach at Ferris High School for four years now. I've coached and judged for Ferris at the local, state, and national level.
Intro:
Tech over truth. Speed is great, I've never had to clear anyone. I don't want to intervene so please do enough work to justify a vote for you (see below, this isn't a problem in most high level debates but if there is heavy framework argumentation in the debate it will be like a breath of fresh air for me). I've voted on Policy, Theory and Kritikal arguments in the past. I like CX debate. I judge because I enjoy the game. Flashing isn't prep but please don't spend too long doing it, a timer should be running for as much time as possible during a debate to preserve fairness and for the good of the tournament schedule. I try to be as attentive as possible so if you have any questions or concerns please let me know before the round starts.
Paradigm proper:
I know that the paradigm so far has been pretty non-specific and not really that helpful but I try to be as much as a blank slate as possible. When it comes to my actual biases, I'm not overly fond of generic procedurals or any arguments that could be described as gimmicky by someone reasonably acquainted with CX. That doesn't mean I won't vote on a procedural but I would probably be more sympathetic towards arguments made against a procedural so long as there isn't a blatant warrant for the procedural to be read.
I'm not particularly tied to any philosophy when it comes to how I should make my decision or what the ballot signifies. Disturbingly often, I'm frustrated by the lack of framework arguments made in rounds and the general lack of instruction about my role is, what my ballot signifies, and what I should be doing when I make my decision. In those sorts of rounds, I'm usually left to make a decision about what I should value most in the debate which is uncomfortable and leaves room for "judging errors" if the framework I was presumed to have assumed but wasn't told to take wasn't taken. I understand that my paradigm should describe the framework that I bring to a round before any arguments have been made, but I am generally apathetic towards most arguments when presented in the abstract. It isn't my job to come to the debate with a well built schema of what should and shouldn't be valued (that is what impact calc and framework arguments are for). In the absence of framework my decision is based off of what arguments I think would be most easily defended in an rfd.
In the unfortunate absence of any framing:
In the absence of any framing to go off of, I suppose I am usually most swayed by the biggest impacts in the round, as most judges are. Those impacts most usually come from policy arguments but can also stem from kritikal arguments as well. I think that a lot of time in rounds is wasted on the link debate, at least in my debate community, which leads to frankly boring debates with excessive defense. I don't vote on defense, there is no reason to (not linking to the negative is not a reason to vote affirmative, it's at best neutral). I like offense heavy debates with well developed off case positions from the negative and well made affirmatives.
Round operation:
My flow is really dense. I write down as much as I am physically able to in every speech. I think that email chains are nice and I appreciate being sent cases. I keep time and will stop speeches that go over time with some leniency. I still encourage everyone to keep track of time within the debate to ensure that everyone is accountable. You can address me as judge, I don't like being referred to directly in a debate round because it breaks my emersion and is at best a waste of time to try to get my attention/ add emphasis to a point when I am already writing down what you are saying. Outside of the round Kyle is fine.
Preparing for a round where I am judge:
Do not fret over anything I said in the sections above. The biggest concern of mine that I bring to a round before anything has been said is the tournament schedule. Please arrive on time. When considering what to run in front of me please consider what would be the most strategic answers to your opponents case. Be polite and respectful to all parties involved. I want to have a pleasant time.
But most importantly of all,
Follow Your Heart.
I'm a previous debater in highschool/college levels and I love following peoples flows and logic.
I look more for how a case upholds its stance on a resolution, and love being told how your values are upheld through your criteria and how its the more logical path to follow for this topic than the other's case. I'm very open minded and follow contentions based on their merit not based on my views.
Tell me how to think and defend why I should think that way and that's how you win my vote.
Edit:
Looking at some of the other paradigms I seem to be lacking some overly complicated body and a touch of wildly unnecessary information about myself so I shall fix it here.
you may address me as His Royal Magistrate or any other declarative proper knowns you would address a nobility.
I have debated for 4 years, qualified for state and national level, gone to many taco bells during tournaments, and am a 9th level artificer.
I went to school to become a grand magus but decided that a lovely life of magic crafting was more suited for me and am now Dan 3.
I have many detailed preferences on how every part of every round should be done and will hold you in distain for the next 3 minutes after the round ends if you do not follow them explicitly to the punctuation!
I absolutely positively with all of my being despise satire in all its forms.
As a debate judge, I value a few things:
-Signposting: Please tell me where you are at in the flow to assist in my ability to accurately judge the round. This will also be extra powerful in points of clash -- show me where your cases are in direct contention with one another and why your side should be preferred.
-Cards/Evidence: I get that evidence matters in a debate round. I honestly don't place a lot of value in a lot of a round being focused on when an article was published or when a study was conducted ... like I get that it matters and can be important to a round, but I much so value your wholistic arguments and ideas in your case over niche disputes on sources.
-Impacts: By making your impacts clear and concise, I am better able to understand the most important/essential elements of your argument.
-Voters: By the end of the round, you should be able to tell me why you won the round.
At the end of the day, I am not a very picky judge! I want to see you do what you do best.
If you are in a rush please skim the bolded text for what is relevant to you, the not-bold text that follow is just the longer clarifying explanation for those that might want more details.
wasmith7899@gmail.com is my contact email for any other questions or if you need to add me to a potential link chain
Competed and learned all debate styles in high school.
Competed at NFL(now known as NSDA) Nationals in Congressional Speaking.
Was a high school assistant coach for 3 years. (Currently an unaffiliated judge)
Currently pursuing Bachelor degrees in: Communication, Early Childhood Development, and Psychology.
I do not flow cross-examination period. Meaning only the words spoken in a speech are noted on paper for my decision of the winner. I do listen though so, if you want a notable answer marked in my decision bring it up in your speech so it is on my flow(otherwise it 'didn't happen').
Speed - is no problem. If online I need camera on while spreading though- I have a much harder time keeping up with a case if I cannot read your lips while you're talking if you cannot have your camera on for any reason please slow down your speaking slightly and make sure to emphasize your tags. Standard SpReading rules: Slow for Tagline, Author, Date of evidence. Sign post occasionally. I will say "Clear" if I no long understand you.
I strongly encourage you time yourself. I keep silent Official Time unless told otherwise- but I am not very good at providing time signals while I am also flowing. . If you run out of time I allow approx 4 second grace periods to finish your sentence before I'll have to cut you off. If I am verbally cutting you off you have already gone over time and I will only flow 2-3 more words after the cut off. No new thoughts after time has elapsed. In questioning periods if time runs out with a question unanswered I would prefer a brief answer, but allow the debater to decline and move onto prep for the next speech if they so wish.
If you make personal attacks on your opponent's character, your speaker points will suffer significantly. It is rare but occassionally if you are too rude and lacking in decorum you can loose a round from that alone. (We all make mistakes, malicious intent vs a slip up is very obvious.)
I believe it is your debate round so you, the debater, determine the direction of the debate. I will listen to any type or style of arguments you want to run, simply explain why that is the most important thing to be looked towards in the round. I say I will listen but that does not mean you win just because your argument is unique. Whoever wins is whoever best explains and supports their claims, and refutes your opponents claims.
Tabula Rasa as much as I can be- knowing i have my own biases and experience that I try to leave at the door but isn't entirely possible. Primarily with emphasis on Flow. I weigh what you present and unless you are clearly and blatantly perpetuating obvious falsehoods I simply look at the facts presented on my flow, if something isn't on my flow it didn't happen in the debate.
Every claim needs a warrant and justification of relevance.
I will leave my political opinions at the door and do not reference them. I don't care what party the current acting president or house leader is, you will refer to them by the office they hold and no other. Don't assume that because you think I believe something personally that I will need less supporting evidence for your claims.
In Public-Forum the round is generally yours to do with as you please.
Courtesy to your opponents is vital. Being as 4 people can get very heated on topics quite easily I will not put up with disrespectful, rude, or threatening behavior in anyway. PF Cross-fire is the most common place in the debate sphere I consider if a team should loose on decorum, remember you are still talking to other humans that have to go back to their lives after this round ends, loosing civility is not worth maybe winning a round and if I'm judging you probably wouldn't end up winning anyways.
I love Voters at the end please- it helps show what you as debaters believe to be most important in that round.
If no RA, framework, or definitions are provided by either side I will loosely judge the round assuming the most common Webster definitions of terms and utilize a Cost-Benefit Analysis approach of who most accurately addressed and supported their claims in relevance to resolution question and demand, but student defined frameworks(within reason obviously) are my first preference weighing mechanism for the round.
In Lincoln-Douglas I have a slight preferential bias towards more traditional style and format. I will absolutely still listen to progressive styles, you must simply continue to warrant and justify all claims.
I think values and morality ultimately are the core of LD and debates of value are vital to a good LD debate.
I try to use the Value and and Value-Criterion as my first tool of weighing the round. I would really like to see how the value and value-criterion are supported by the rest of the following points of your cause. Ideally an LD debate does not devolve to just stating one side has a better value than their opponents, and should just win Becuase that value is "better." Instead I like to see V and VC incorporated throughout the flow and relating to your contentions. Tell me how your value is achieved in your world through what you have presented in your case and how you are doing that better or the values you are achieving will have more impact than the evidence and values the opposite side presents. If you get near the end of the debate and aren't sure how to conclude, impact calculus is one of my favorite formats for finishing out a speakers speech to get my onto the same page of what you think was most important in the round today.
If you opt to utilize a Standard instead then you must explicitly explain why you chose a Standard over a Value and Value-Criterion and the relevancy of that, all other incorporation into the debate applies the same as what I want to see for V and VC.
If you are running progressive: your evidence needs to be relevant, if I could read your case in 2 months on a different resolution and nothing would need to change then your case will have much less ground to stand on in my eyes.
In Congress I am a seasoned Parlimentarian, I've held Parli as multiple state level tournaments in both Idaho and Washington, I look to Roberts rules and NSDA standards. I prefer that POs use audible time signals such as knocking or make a timer accessible and easy to see for the speaker. The more you can effectively manage the room and keep things in order without me having to interfere the more successful I will perceive the PO job you did.
In Policy I have the least experience. I have not dealt with Policy style debate much in quite a few years so I am not especially up to date.
I can listen to spreading but I have been hearing LD spreading primarily so consider slowing down a titch - especially on taglines.
Please do not do Performative Affs. I think they are very cool but often, for me, lead to just having more trouble tracking the debate thus harming you in the long run.
Don't expect me to just know your cards and arguments. You have to explain and justify your arguments. If you just say a tag and move on then you aren't willing to work for my vote and likely won't receive it.
I know most concepts within policy but am very lacking on the jargon that coincide so quickly throwing out a lot of jargon specific to this debate types will lose me.
(Not to be confused with David Sposito, who also judges for Ferris)
add me to the chain: dmspingola@gmail.com - subject line: [tournament] [round] [aff team] (aff) vs [neg team]
everything is fine.
debate on the line by line.
highly prepared, technical debates are the most educational and most fun to watch (though framework often satisfies that description).
most things which are unfair are also reciprocally unstrategic; try to debate substance if you can, though sometimes it is an impossible or unreasonable expectation (esp in high school).
me being familiar with a position is not an excuse not to explain it - debate is a communicative activity.
debate is fun - don't ruin it, though I trust you won't.
Feel free to email me with any questions :)